ONE of the biggest IT infrastructure projects of its kind in Europe has been installed at Cardiff University.

ONE of the biggest IT infrastructure projects of its kind in Europe has been installed at Cardiff University.

The university has installed a massive 10 gigabyte computer system, with the aim of upgrading to 40 gigabytes in the near future - far ahead of most other UK institutions.

According to those involved in the project, its significance is akin to "the M4 motorway being replaced with about 10 M4s".

The need for the university to upgrade its IT network has been driven not just by the increase in students (who will number more than 25,000 once the merger with the College of Medicine is complete) but by the numerous projects based in the Welsh capital.

These include The Grid, dubbed the successor to the internet, and the work of the Welsh e-Science centre, which develops and runs data-intensive research such as providing virtual reality models for bio-terrorist attacks.

Capital investment, in the form of grants, of &#xA3;4.5m, with the university having to cover the costs of maintenance - envisaged to be around &#xA3;1m over five years.

Tom Wiersma, the university's network team-leader, said, "The idea is that this is a future infrastructure. We will be at the forefront in terms of technology. We've invested in technology that's not in the shops yet."

He said it was unlikely that the university's IT needs in five years' time would be greater than the technology's capabilities.

"I do think this will be a flagship development for Wales and put Cardiff on the IT technology map."

Silicon Valley firm Foundry Networks will provide the infrastructure, while Pervasive Networks, based in Newbury, will provide technical support.

Mr Wiersma said, "Foundry was the simple and logical choice because its technology completely outstrips the competition.

"We now have 10-Gigabit capability and plan to upgrade to Foundry's 40 Gigabit BigIron MG8 platform as we need more capacity."

The new network will provide more than 25,000 students and researchers from Cardiff University and the UWCM - the two institutions are in the process of merging - with high-speed access to a range of joint University resources, and national and international cross-collaboration research data.

The upgrade will also provide the combined University with a high performance network to efficiently run admin tasks such as student registration and new infrastructure for carrying voice, data and video network traffic for halls of residence.

Alex Hardisty, manager of the Welsh e-Science Centre, said, "It's clear that the new network is going to allow us to do a lot more of what we're doing and much faster.

"Some scientific instruments in use today generate terabytes of data per second. Once processed, this is equivalent to more than one million CD-Roms of data a year. "Viewing and analysing the results needs new techniques, such as immersive visualisation. Using visualisation, the data is formatted and presented as 3D videographics that scientists can interact with.

"We are going to be expanding many of the applications at the moment in terms of both usage and complexity.

"The new network is the only way we are going to be able to run these cohesively. AccessGrid video feeds, for example, are only limited by the bandwidth and processing power available.

"When we have a 40-Gig-capable network in place, the quality of collaborative video visualisation in Cardiff University will be world class."

Jamie Pitchforth, strategic account director for Pervasive said, "Businesses, be they private or public sector, only spend money if they know there is going to be a return on that investment.

"The solution we put together for Cardiff is very strong in this respect, especially the real-time traffic monitoring capability we're delivering."

Bobby Johnson, Foundry Networks' president and CEO said, "We are delighted to be the network infrastructure vendor of choice for one of the UK's leading academic establishments.

"We expect Cardiff to be one of the first European customers to use our new TerathonTM 40-Gigabit platform.

"Cardiff chose Foundry because we were able to go a step further than our competitors and provide a clear upgrade path that caters to their needs today and well into the future."